blog of Elder Rob Weatherford
serving in the Mexico Veracruz Mission
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

2015-10-3 Weatherford and Gamboa... and Smith

Ok. First things first. I am no longer with Elder Lind.
Elder Lind is in Tuxtepec. I am not. I am in Veracruz again. All right, that's
out of the way--now I can continue.

We had a really good week... almost a week and a half ago.
Saira told us she feels ready to get baptized, there was finally legal progress
on Georgina and Nestor's wedding, and Jesus was going along really well. Oh,
and Álvaro and Reyna finally went to church again! Reyna was even at the point
where she was joking about her baptism... it's kind of hard to explain, but I'm
sure the missionaries know what I'm talking about... that's when you know
they're really considering the idea. So, we had Saira and possibly Georgina
lined up for the last day of the transfer, the 11th. And then, Monday night, I
get a call from the assistant. Special transfers! I'm going the next morning at
5am to the bus station to catch a ride to Veracruz! It's two weeks early so I
can be trained to be the new Secretary to the President. A desk job! It's
actually going to be really cool, I think, although my time in the field is
going to be (extremely) limited. I don't know how it works in other
missions, especially the States, but the biggest and most important part of my
job is managing the visa, travel, etc. paperwork to make sure the foreign
missionaries remain legally. I'm in charge of receiving those that arrive (and,
of course, all their paperwork), renewing the visas of those that have more
time in the mission, arranging the flights for those that are leaving, and a
bunch of other stuff. I get to talk to people over the phone from all over
North and South America in a variety of languages (well, English and Spanish...
I don't know what I'll do when it's time to do it for the Brazilian
missionaries...), visit a bunch (only a couple, actually, I think... but often)
of governmental offices, and I get my own desk (!). It's a lot of work,
actually, a lot of complicated governmental procedures I have to learn, and, of
course, a lot of filing. And then, ideally, in the evening we can go out to
work in our area. But, of course, the thing that excites me the most is the air
conditioning in the offices :)

The thing about this assignment is that it's a minimum of
six months. When I get out of the office, the end of my mission will be in
sight. That's a sobering thought. But I've been praying about it, and I feel
good in knowing that if this is where the Lord wants me, it's for a reason.
I'll push all the paper He wants me to, and I'll do it happily.

It may not be on the mountain
height

Or over the stormy sea,

It may not be at the battle’s
front

My Lord will have need of me.

My
battles are going to be more with government officials than with the hosts of
Satan (hold the political jokes, please) for a few months, but I'm still a
missionary, and I'm still where the Lord wants me to be.

I'm going to
wait to write about Conference until I see all of it, but it's been amazing so
far! It's always special, even if sad, to see new apostles chosen. President
Packer, Elder Perry, and Elder Scott were outstanding men, but the work doesn't
stop, and they're now resting (or maybe not... they're probably still hard at
work in the Lord's service!) while others are called and qualified to take
their place. And the work rolls on!

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To send Rob a message, you may email him at robert.weatherford@myldsmail.net :) And here is the mission address if you want to send a package or something good like that!Elder Rob WeatherfordMexico Veracruz MissionCalle Altamirano #27Entre 1 de Mayo y CarranzaCol. Flores MagónVeracruz, Ver 91700México